Life in Color
by bluebirdeyes
Summary: Slice-of-life Team Natsu art student AU. No romance, no drama, just lots of fluffy friendships and artist shenanigans. Lucy/Natsu focus.
1. Episode 1

**Episode 1:** In which Gray doesn't get naked for Natsu while Lucy watches. No nudity here, nope.

* * *

Truth be told, Lucy hated figure drawing class. Staring at wooden figures and naked models for hours on end was not exactly her idea of a good time, and the angry old coot who ran the class made the entire experience ten times worse than it needed to be. The only saving grace was that her best friend was in the class with her.

Of course, the professor had to ruin that, too.

"Natsu Dragneel."

"Yes?"

The professor gestured to Natsu's drawing of the day pinned to the wall among all the others. Natsu's work always stood out during critiques. And usually not in a good way.

"What is this?" Professor Gaebolg said.

"Uh. What do you mean?"

"Look at the others' drawings and look at yours. Do you see the difference?"

Lucy's blood ran cold. Professor Gaebolg was infamous for his harsh and humiliating tirades against unlucky students, so if he was singling Natsu out, this wasn't a good sign. Until now, he had just glared at the offending drawings in gross distaste, but somehow today Natsu's drawing crossed a line.

"Mine's really bad," Natsu said.

The professor let out a long breath through his nose. "Bad?" he said quietly. His voice rapidly rose to a hysterical screech. "You call this _bad?!_ Bad, he says! Bad! No, this is a downright _disgrace._ And you dare call yourself an artist." He spat the words as if the very taste of them disgusted him.

Natsu raised his hand a little. "I know I'm lacking. I'm taking this class so I can improve my—"

"So you can improve your drawing skills? You can't improve something that doesn't even exist. Even graphic designers need to be able to sketch; how do you plan on making it anywhere like this?"

The room was silent. No one dared to move. Even the hum of the air vents seemed too loud. Natsu acted unfazed, but judging by the way his clenched fist trembled on his lap, Lucy knew he was working hard to hold back his temper.

"No answer, huh? I asked you a question, boy. You dare to come into my class and—"

 _"With all due respect,_ sir," Lucy interrupted, heart pounding in her ears, "I haven't seen you once make an effort to give Natsu feedback. You give everyone pointers except for him. How do you expect him to improve when you ignore him during class? It is your responsibility to oversee and teach your students. His tuition money is paying your salary; the least you could do is treat him with the same respect you do the rest of your students." She mumbled an addition, "Not that you treat any of us with much respect, but that's beside the point."

Rant over, heat rose to Lucy's face under the stares of her fellow students. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one make a subtle silent clapping motion, which brought a bittersweet smile to her face. At least her sacrifice would not go unappreciated. She would go down a martyr.

"Miss Heartfilia, you may see me after class," Professor Gaebolg said after a short stunned silence. But it seemed her point got across, because he dropped the subject of Natsu's lacking abilities and moved on to discuss what they would be doing next class.

Lucy let out a long sigh. She was doomed.

While the professor was talking, Natsu sneaked a look over his shoulder and flashed Lucy a wide grin. She smiled weakly back. It was worth it to defend her friend, but damn if she hadn't just made her life in this class a lot harder.

* * *

Natsu was waiting for her when Professor Gaebolg finally let her go.

"How'd it go?" he said, straightening up from his position leaning against the wall.

Without a word, Lucy walked up to him and slumped against his chest, forehead resting on his shoulder. His chuckle was low and rumbly in her ears.

"That bad, huh?" he said, patting her on the back.

Lucy stood up straight. "He lectured me about talking back to figures of authority. I tuned out most of it." That wasn't entirely true. But she didn't want to think about how many times the professor brought up her family background, essentially calling her a spoiled brat with a superiority complex, an arrogant little rich girl who thought she could do whatever she wanted because of Daddy's money. She didn't have the energy to point out that she'd been an emancipated minor and was only attending college through a full scholarship from the university. He'd probably continue blaming her background for her attitude anyway, regardless of her current situation. The downsides of having a famously wealthy father.

"I should change my surname," she said aloud.

"You've been saying that ever since I've known you," Natsu said.

"One of these days I'll actually do it," she said.

Thankfully, he didn't press the issue of what had happened; he seemed to get the gist from the few words she did say. Instead they walked side-by-side back to the apartment building they both lived in, him chattering on about all the chores he had to do when he got home.

They were approaching the building when a light bulb went off in Lucy's head. She smacked a fist to her palm. "I've got it!" She pointed at Natsu. "I'm going to coach you."

"On what?" Natsu said blankly.

"Figure drawing! I should've thought of it sooner!"

"You have your own homework to do," he said.

"So? Not like I'm going to be able to focus when I'm busy being mad at him for calling you out at the crit today. If he refuses to teach you properly, then I'll do it instead and show him just how good you are. So? What do you say?"

"It sounds great and all, but we don't have a figure model. The school doesn't let us borrow those wooden ones."

"All we need is someone willing to take off a few layers for us. Who do we know who does exactly that on his own anyway?"

Natsu said the name at the same time as Lucy: "Gray."

"The question is how to convince him, though," Lucy said, tapping her lips with her pointer finger.

"Oh, that's no problem," Natsu said. "Leave that stripping bastard to me."

* * *

Lucy didn't know how he did it, but Natsu did manage to convince Gray to model for them. He sat awkwardly in the middle of his and Natsu's bedroom as Lucy helped Natsu set up his drawing board and pencils.

Natsu looked up. "You just gonna sit there? Hurry up and strip, you stripper."

"The things I get myself into," Gray muttered, grumpily pulling his shirt over his head and working on his belt buckle. He glanced awkwardly at Lucy. "Uh. Mind looking away for a sec? This feels weird."

"Nothing I haven't seen you do already," Lucy said, rolling her eyes but dutifully turning around.

"That means you too, idiot."

"I'm not even looking," Natsu said.

"Okay, done," Gray said after a moment. He kept his boxers on, but other than that, all his clothes were in a pile on the floor next to him. Lucy gathered them up and put them to the side. "So, uh, what do I do?"

"Just find a standing position that feels comfortable," Lucy said. "We're not trying to do anything fancy here, just going through some basics. Normally you wouldn't even need to take any clothes off, but we've been doing muscle studies in class lately and well, we need to see your skin for that."

"If that stupid professor did his job, I wouldn't be stuck doing this," he grumbled, spreading his feet apart a little and settling into a relaxed standing position.

"That's great, Gray," Lucy said, trying to be encouraging. He was obviously not happy to be here, and she couldn't help but wonder what Natsu said to get him to agree to this in the first place. "All right, Natsu, I'm going to walk you through this, so just follow my lead, all right?"

She walked him through the basic steps she'd learned in every figure drawing unit since high school, the same basic steps their professor should've at least mentioned or pointed Natsu to a resource for. But since it had come to this, what better resource than Lucy, whose favorite subject to paint was the human body?

After doing it together once, Lucy had Natsu do more sketches without instruction this time, and it was amazing how much he'd already improved with a little one-on-one attention. Sure, his drawings were still mediocre, but the proportions were better, and the movement of his hand a lot smoother and more confident. And that confidence would make all the difference.

Lucy didn't know how much time went by before the sound of a key in the deadbolt announced that someone was entering the apartment.

"Must be Gajeel," Lucy noted, head turned toward the source of the sound. Gajeel, Natsu, and Gray all lived together in this apartment. Gajeel had won the round of rock paper scissors that decided who got their own bedroom, so the perpetually fighting Natsu and Gray were forced to share. Still, despite all their bickering, the three were close friends.

"You guys still drawing?" Gajeel called.

"Don't you dare come in here," Gray shouted back.

The door swung open with a bang. "Too late!" Juvia sang, bursting into the room.

Erza soon followed. "Hello, Gray."

Gray turned a dangerous shade of red and scrambled to cover up. "What the fuck, guys?"

"Sorry," Levy said with a sigh from the doorway. "They insisted on coming along."

Gray groaned. "Really, Gajeel?"

Gajeel just grinned. "Gihi."

"Gray is modeling. It's interesting," Erza said.

"Awww, Juvia thought Gray would be naked," Juvia said, pouting.

"Like hell I'd get naked for that hothead," Gray said.

"Oo la la," Lucy teased, covering her mouth in a mock-scandalized fashion.

If it was possible, Gray got even redder. "You know that's not what I meant," he said.

"Sorry, Gray," Natsu said, making a face. "I don't see you like that. We're just friends, dude."

"I said that's not what I meant!"

Lucy laughed. Gray usually played along with this sort of teasing, but with only boxers covering him, he was embarrassed and defensive. Poor guy. Who knew the perpetually shirtless Gray Fullbuster actually had a sense of shame?

"I think we're finished for today. Thanks, Gray," Lucy said. She tossed Gray his clothes, which he immediately started to put on.

"I'm not done," Natsu whined.

"You really think you'll be able to get any drawing done with everyone here? Gray deserves a break, too. We've been at this for an hour."

"I'm a little stiff, but I can stretch it out," Gray said, pulling a shirt over his head. "Hey, is it just me, or is anyone else hungry?"

Juvia raised her hand. "Juvia thinks we should go out for pizza."

"All in favor of pizza say, 'Aye,'" Erza said.

"Aye!" everyone chorused.

As a part-time waitress herself, Lucy always felt bad for the wait staff who had to serve them when they all went out to dine together, but she wasn't about to pass up a pizza dinner with her admittedly rowdy friends. While the others left to get a table, she, Natsu, and Gray hurried to get everything cleaned up from the lesson. Lucy especially didn't want to leave Natsu and Gray's room a mess after she forced them into this whole figure drawing lesson thing.

Erza hung back with the three packing up. "Gray, if you ever need a break, I'll volunteer instead. Being a figure model sounds interesting," she said.

Lucy wondered what Erza's reaction would be to having Natsu render a poorly-drawn version of her in his sketchbook. She wasn't sure she wanted to find out. Neither did Natsu, probably.

He shared a glance with Lucy, fear in his eyes at the very thought of having Erza model. "Maybe next time," he hedged. "So, how about we get that pizza?"

* * *

Next class, Lucy and Natsu were buzzing with nervous anticipation as the class got set up. It was one of those days when a student would get in front of the class and have everyone draw them for half an hour before switching out with another student. Lucy always protested when a classmate volunteered her to model. She'd much rather draw.

On these days, Natsu always wanted to model to get out of drawing, but today he was uncharacteristically quiet when the professor called for volunteers. Class time passed by slowly. Lucy couldn't see Natsu's easel from where she stood, but she hoped his improvement from their little practice session was still obvious after the weekend.

She held her breath as Professor Gaebolg passed by Natsu's easel and paused, eyebrows raising by a hair. Natsu's hand stilled, sensing the professor behind his back. Time seemed to slow for a moment before Professor Gaebolg nodded once.

"That's more like it, Dragneel," he drawled, then moved on to the next student.

Lucy smiled so wide she almost cried.

Natsu turned around and shared an excited grin with Lucy. Wow. Had that really just happened?

That was the first time their professor had ever addressed Natsu while doing his rounds in class, and it was a compliment. Professor Gaebolg never gave compliments.

A little instruction went a long way. Lucy was still furious that she'd had to take it upon herself to help Natsu, but it would finally get through to the professor that his rather unhelpful approach to teaching was a detriment to his students. Maybe now he'd actually _teach_ a little. It was a farfetched hope, but they'd managed to pull a compliment out of him, so who knows?

At the end of class, as all the students were packing up their supplies, Professor Gaebolg approached Natsu looking mighty awkward. Lucy pretended not to be watching, but she kept a careful eye trained on the two of them, as did the rest of the class.

"Dragneel," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"You did much better today. I see you took my words to heart."

"Oh, it was Lucy who taught me. She walked me through the basics of figure drawing, like the proportions and such. It makes a lot more sense now."

Professor Gaebolg glanced at Lucy for a moment, surprised, then turned away, He cleared his throat. "Well, if you should ever need further instruction, come to my office hours and I can help you."

Lucy's heart soared. Yes!

"Won't you be busy?" Natsu said. Professor Gaebolg was notorious for having other obligations during times he was supposed to have set aside to meet with students. And if it was a student he hated, like Natsu, he was almost always "busy."

"I won't be busy anymore," Professor Gaebolg said. "Not if you make an appointment. That goes for everybody," he added, addressing the rest of the class, who nodded in response. "Well. Good work today, all of you." With that, he swept out of the room.

As soon as the professor left, Natsu tackled Lucy in a side hug.

"Thanks!" he said, grinning from ear to ear. "I owe ya one!"

Lucy giggled and patted his arm. "You don't owe me anything. I did it for my own satisfaction."

"Nah, you stood up for me last class and even helped me get better so even Gaebolg had to acknowledge it."

"What you did was pretty impressive," added a classmate, Mickey.

"I've never seen Gaebolg look like that before," snickered another, Laki.

Natsu gave Lucy a hearty clap on the back. She stumbled forward. "You're a hero, Lucy," he said.

Lucy blushed. "I wouldn't say that," she said. The encouragement from her classmates was flattering and embarrassing at the same time, and Lucy's cheeks already hurt from all the smiling.

Natsu stretched his arms over his head. "I guess we can tell that bastard Gray that today was a success."

"He did help us out a lot," Lucy said. "Let's treat him to ice cream or something. We should ask him what he wants."

"You do it. If I ask, he'll just say something stupid," Natsu said.

"You're the one stupid enough to actually take him up on his ridiculous dares."

"He calls me a coward if I don't. There's no way I can let a coward like him call me a coward."

"And he counts on that faulty logic of yours. Well, he falls for it too when it's the other way around, so I suppose you two are alike in that regard."

"Hey, don't lump me together with that idiot."

"Pot and kettle, the two of you, I swear," Lucy said with a sigh.

"You're the one that needs the real thanks," Natsu said. "It must take a lot of patience to teach an idiot like me."

"You're no idiot," Lucy scolded. "Don't let Professor Gaebolg's treatment get to your head. He might treat you like an idiot, but he's wrong. You got so much better in such a short amount of time. In my opinion, that makes you a genius."

Throwing an arm around her shoulders, Natsu grinned. "Really, thanks, Lucy. For everything."

She smiled back. "Anytime."


	2. Episode 2

Episode 2: In which Natsu and Lucy are an old married couple who know each other way too well.

* * *

It was a warm and pleasant day, inside the apartment at least. Outside there was a brisk wind that made it feel like it should be snowing, but they hadn't gotten so much as a frost. Lucy hated this kind of cold, the kind that was ugly and dry and never-ending.

The window creaked under the force of a particularly strong gale, and Lucy shot it a dirty look. Today was Blanket Day in the apartment for sure.

"Lucy, you should draw me."

Lucy looked up at Erza. It was just the two of them today; Levy was their third roommate, the one who shared a room with Lucy, but she was stuck in the art building. She was missing out on Blanket Day.

"Erza, you know I don't paint my friends."

"Not painting, just a sketch. You do those, right? Just next time you need to practice faces or something, I'd love to be your model. I've always wondered how I would look in your style." Erza's eyes were shining with enthusiasm. She loved being looked at and admired, Lucy knew that. But drawing a friend…that was something she only did when she knew others wouldn't see.

Lucy bit her lip. "Sorry, Erza. It's a rule of mine. I don't draw friends, even sketches."

"Oh, sorry. I thought that only applied to paintings, since I saw sketches you did of Cana in the past." Cana Alberona was Gray's friend who went to grad school at their university.

"Wait, how did you know about that?" Lucy said.

"About what?"

"About those sketches," Lucy said. "The ones you're talking about are from my private sketchbook. Nobody's seen those except for me."

"Oh," Erza said, looking a little concerned. "Was I not supposed to know about them? Natsu sent around pictures."

Lucy's jaw nearly dropped. "Natsu did _what?"_

"I take it he wasn't supposed to see them either."

"Of course not! Why, that…that…that _asshole!_ How could he do that? He knows that sketchbook is private!"

"If it means anything, he was— Well, just look." Erza pulled out her phone and opened a group message with all the others on it, Natsu included. She scrolled up a bit and handed Lucy the phone. There was a series of photos from Natsu containing several sketches from Lucy's sketchbook, which had her livid just looking at them being sent around like that. But the words accompanying them made her anger falter.

"He spent about an hour spamming us with texts," Erza said as Lucy read through the conversation. Well, for a good portion of it, the conversation was a less of a dialogue and more of a one-man speech; Natsu sent message after message praising Lucy's talent.

 _"We get it. You're a Lucy fanboy,"_ Gray wrote after paragraphs of Natsu gushing about Lucy's use of light and color in her sketches. _"Stop blowing up my phone. We get it."_

 _"Guys we need to make her the next Van Gogh,"_ Natsu said.

 _"Van Gogh only got famous after he died,"_ Levy pointed out.

 _"Then we need to make her even more famous than Van Gogh. You don't understand, guys. Even her sketches are this good. I'm in love."_

 _"NATSU WE KNOW."_

Lucy giggled at the tirade that followed, Gajeel complaining about how Natsu's constant messages were interrupting his concentration and Natsu bemoaning the others' lack of enthusiasm about his plans to make Lucy famous.

"I think he just couldn't contain himself," Erza said when Lucy reached the bottom and handed the phone back.

"I can see that," Lucy said, trying to wipe the smile from her face. _You're supposed to be angry, remember, Lucy?_ But somehow she couldn't bring herself to be mad anymore after seeing how proud he was of her. He noticed how hard she worked to develop her style, all her improvements over the years they'd known each other, everything. And, apparently, he adored her for it.

Not that she didn't adore him right back, but this was unexpected. They were best friends, sure, and he always praised her paintings when she asked for his opinion, but part of her always figured all his praises were just to make her feel better. But he was saying the same things even when she wasn't around to hear it, which warmed her heart. He loved her art this much.

"What are you going to do?" Erza asked, pulling Lucy from her thoughts.

"I'm not sure," she said. "Keep better track of where my sketchbook is, for one. Maybe I'll steal his and see how he likes it."

"Natsu uses a sketchbook?"

"You don't know about it? Even better." A grin stretched across Lucy's face. This was going to be perfect. Evil, but perfect. "I think I know exactly how I'm going to get revenge."

Erza raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And how will you do that?"

"You'll see."

"I'll take it this sketchbook has things he doesn't want others to know about, seeing as I haven't even heard of him keeping one."

"He has to use one for class, for sketches and brainstorming. But he usually keeps it on lockdown because his brainstorming ideas are _terrible._ Like, really bad."

"Then I look forward to seeing it," Erza said, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Sorry you don't get your sketches, though," Lucy said.

"It's fine, I simply misunderstood. Who else have you drawn in that private sketchbook of yours?"

"Mostly strangers," Lucy admitted. "I drew Cana after meeting her the first time because I thought she looked particularly beautiful that day, and her expressions are so animated. I haven't drawn her since getting to know her better."

"Not even Natsu?"

"Not even Natsu."

Erza nodded. "I see. It's understandable, I suppose. I'm the opposite; I prefer taking portraits of people I know. It feels like I can capture them better if I already know a lot about them."

"I do feel that way sometimes," Lucy said, "but I prefer to paint people I don't know, because then I can invent stories about them, try to imagine who they are and what they're like. It's kind of like noveling, but on a canvas. To do that with friends is kind of…weird."

"Very interesting. I think I've learned a little more about you as a person today," Erza said.

Lucy laughed. "What, that I'm a total writing geek?"

"Oh, I've always known _that."_

Lucy made a low grumbly noise in offense.

"It's just interesting to see what others' artist philosophies are like. Why do we do what we do? That sort of thing. Everyone's reasons for being here are a little different."

"I don't know how we get along with so many artists in our group," Lucy said. "We're all a little eccentric."

"Most artists tend to be," Erza said with a smile.

"I'm surprised you're actually admitting you're weird."

"It doesn't hurt to acquiesce sometimes when it's just the two of us."

"I'm honored."

"As you should be."

* * *

Over the weekend, it was Lucy's turn to skip a Blanket Day to spend time in the studio. She wasn't expecting Natsu to join her on such a cold and windy day, especially seeing as it was the weekend, but he'd somehow braved the frigid temperatures to burst into the studio with his usual energy. He chattered on about Happy's latest attempt to shred all their furniture as he set up a little work station near where Lucy was painting. The whole time, she quietly mixed her colors, contemplating how to break the news.

"You liked my sketches that much, huh?" Lucy said, smirking.

Natsu blinked, train of thought interrupted. "Huh?"

"I know you took pictures and sent them around."

Natsu's eyes widened, and, if Lucy wasn't seeing things, he was blushing at the tips of his ears. "Oh. Who told you?"

"Erza," she said. "You know that sketchbook is private."

"I don't see why," Natsu said with a huff. "The stuff you have in there is awesome. You should show it to people more."

"Keeping it private was my choice, Natsu. I ask that you respect that choice from now on, Got it?"

"Fine," Natsu said, pouting. "But you'll still show me them, right? I won't take pictures anymore, I just want to see."

"Maybe," Lucy said. "I'm still mad at you. And a lot of those were private for a reason."

"I only sent the ones I didn't think you'd mind."

"I mind for all of them."

"Sorry."

Deciding it was time to change the tone of the conversation, Lucy smiled and flipped her hair around to the other shoulder. "It's fine. Just don't do it again. I got my revenge, anyway."

"What revenge?" Natsu asked, tilting his head.

"I'm not the only one with a sketchbook. Right, Natsu?"

He paled. "You wouldn't."

"I already did. I don't think you'll ever live it down."

"Noooo," Natsu wailed, covering his head with his hands. "I should've burned that thing while I still had the chance."

"And lose all your _wonderful_ ideas?"

"I never should've showed it to you."

"And I never showed you mine, so we're even."

"Fair enough. Well-played, Heartfilia. I admit defeat."

"You never stood a chance, Dragneel."

They fell into silence again as they each concentrated on their work, until Lucy got thirsty and reached for a glass of water.

"Lucy, that's not clean."

She looked at the cup in her hand. It was her rinse water.

"Oh my god," she said, putting it down as fast as possible. "Thank you."

"You're really absentminded when you're working," Natsu said, turning back to his laptop.

"How's your thing going?" she said, leaning over to peer at his screen. He turned it away from her.

"No looking yet."

"Okay."

"Well…okay, fine, you can look." He turned his laptop toward her and switched tabs from a half-finished business card to a logo that Lucy quickly recognized. Her eyes lit up.

"That's the idea I gave you!"

Natsu gave a confident grin, hands on his hips. "Looks great, huh?"

"It's amazing! I hope you get an A."

"I still have to finish the stationery, but the professor said my logo is good enough to run with," Natsu said, facing the laptop back toward himself.

"That's awesome," Lucy said. "I can't believe you actually used my idea."

"It was a good one," he said with a shrug.

"Compared to the ideas in your sketchbook, maybe," she teased.

"Hey, my ideas get better after the first round of brainstorming. It's just the first few ideas that are bad."

"Yeah, but those few ideas are atrocious."

"Shut up."

Lucy grinned. "You know I'll never stop teasing you."

"Just do whatever you want, weirdo." He grabbed her in a headlock to muss her hair while she half-heartedly fought him off squealing and giggling.

This was the moment when the studio door burst open and Gray came in.

"Knew I could find you here. Charcoal-for-Brains, stop messing with Lucy, I gotta talk to you."

Natsu paused mid-noogie. "Make it quick, Icebox."

Gray pulled out his phone and pointed to it. "What kind of utter nonsense is this?"

Natsu peered close at the screen, and Lucy could already tell it was the text she sent out earlier of Natsu's notebook. She should've known Gray would be the first to use it as teasing fodder. She just hadn't expected him to come all the way to the painting studio to do so.

Natsu's ears turned pink when he realized what Gray was here for. "Oh no. I'm fucked."

That was all it took. Gray burst out into hysterical laughter, literally doubling over and falling to the floor he was laughing so hard.

Natsu turned even pinker, if that was possible.

Lucy grinned. "Ah, sweet revenge," she said.

"Why'd you have to do it, Lucy?" Natsu whined over the sound of Gray's laughter

"I only sent one page," she said defensively.

Hearing that, Gray started laughing even harder. "T-there's more?!" he wheezed. Tears were starting to squeeze from the corners of his eyes.

"It's not _that_ funny," Natsu grumbled.

"But…but…an umbrella app? An umbrella! You'd ruin your phone using it as an umbrella!"

"And the thermometer app where he drew someone sticking their phone under their tongue to take their temperature," Lucy said.

"And a Bigfoot finder app." Gray cackled. "How do you even come up with this stuff?"

"Don't forget the app that makes fart noises when you move your phone," Lucy said.

Natsu covered his ears. "Shut up."

"I came here 'cause I couldn't believe they weren't joke ideas, but your reaction—" He devolved into laughter again.

"Shut uppppp."

"Man, we never get to see this stuff in class when you're making proposals," Gray said.

"There's a reason for that, obviously," Natsu said, scowling.

"Come on, it's hilarious. You should do it."

"No thank you," he said. "I don't need the professors to think I'm an idiot."

"I'm pretty sure everyone knows that by now. What harm could a little extra proof do?"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up? Do I need to blackmail you again?"

"Again?" Lucy questioned.

Natsu grinned. "I never did tell you how I convinced him to strip for us, did I?"

"If you keep using the same thing as a threat over stupid things like this, it's going to lose its impact eventually," Gray told him. "Don't worry, I'll keep your little secret in class. Outside of class? Well, we all know already so…"

"Ugh, don't remind me," Natsu said, head in his hands.

"You'll never live it down," Lucy said.

"I've learned my lesson," Natsu said.

"No more stealing each other's sketchbooks, all right?"

"Promise," Natsu said, curling his smallest finger in Lucy's.

"No breaking it this time," she said, sealing the pinky promise. "Now both of you either get to work or get out, because I'm on a deadline and this little break has gone on long enough."

"Yes, ma'am," Natsu said, mock saluting and turning back to his laptop.

"I brought my stuff, don't worry," Gray said, pulling over one of those uncomfortable metal stools before deciding to just sit on the concrete floor instead. He snatched a blanket from Lucy's pile of things — she always brought a blanket to the studio — and made himself comfortable.

Though there was still the occasional giggle from Gray and embarrassed grumbling from Natsu, Lucy managed to finish her painting that day. And her sketchbook was safely nestled in her backpack, no longer at risk from her friends' prying eyes. In a way, she was almost glad Natsu had leaked some of her sketches, because now she knew that his praise wasn't just to make her feel better. It almost made her want to show off some of her better ones voluntarily. Almost.


	3. Episode 3

**Episode 3:** In which Natsu and Lucy are both utter failures, and Erza is better than all of them tbh

* * *

Why Lucy had gotten herself into this, she had no idea. It started out as a favor for a classmate in one of her gen ed classes: create a poster to advertise the Peace in East Asia Club's annual event. Painting the background was no problem at all — Lucy knew exactly what she wanted to do and just _did_ it — but the issue was the text (Lucy's handwriting was terrible) and the QR code the club wanted on there for whatever reason. So, Photoshop it was.

But Lucy was absolutely useless with Photoshop.

She had Natsu let her into the graphic design labs so she could use the nice computers there, but in the end she was just sitting there with the scan of her artwork open in front of her, not knowing what to do next. All these design-y people made it look so easy, but what did half these tools even do?

"Natsu?" she said.

He was sitting nearby on his laptop, feet propped on an empty chair. "Yeah?"

"How do I make a text box?"

"Just click the text tool."

"Where's that? Wait, is it the 'T' thing?"

"Yup. You can just hit 't' on your keyboard too; it's a shortcut."

"I already clicked it," Lucy said. She dragged out a text box and typed in the name of the event. She fiddled around with the font for a while, navigating the huge repertoire of typefaces the school had installed. But it wasn't long before she had another question.

"Uhh, Natsu?"

"Mm."

"What does this stuff mean? Crisp, strong, smooth…" It was an option on the text toolbar, but she'd never seen anything like it before.

"Oh, you can ignore that."

"It just doesn't seem to make much of a difference, so I'm confused about what it's for."

"There's a lot of little things like that in the Adobe programs," Natsu said. He didn't seem to be paying much attention, so maybe he didn't know what it was for either. These programs were so complicated.

"One more thing. How do I make it bolder?"

"There should be a drop-down menu right near where you selected the typeface," Natsu said. "You can pick the weight and italics and stuff there."

"Yeah, but it's not there."

That finally got Natsu to move. He leaned over to peer at Lucy's screen. She showed him the drop-down menu, which only had the option of "regular."

Natsu sighed. "That's a display font. There's no other variations. It's not made for body text like that, so what you see is what you get."

"So I can't make it bold? It's kind of hard to read."

"You can put a stroke on it."

"…what does that mean?"

Natsu sat up straight and removed the laptop from his lap. He stretched, cracking his knuckles over his head. "That's it," he said, "I'm teaching you Photoshop."

"No, you don't have to do that!" Lucy protested. It wasn't like this project of hers was for a class, and if she needed to she could just look up tutorials online.

"You taught me figure drawing, so now I'm going to teach you Photoshop!" Natsu insisted.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Lucy said.

It's not that she didn't trust him to know what he was doing, but, well, she was a little worried about his teaching methods. The things he was good at came naturally to him, and he tended to be unable to explain it to people who weren't so gifted. He once tried to teach her how to shoot a basketball and failed miserably. "You just do the push thing with your wrist and it goes in the air and swoosh!" wasn't exactly helpful advice.

"Why wouldn't it work?" Natsu said.

"You're not always the best at teaching other people how to do things," she said.

"What makes you say that?"

"Remember when you tried to teach me basketball?"

"Yeah, that was a disaster. But hey, you know judo, so you don't even need to know basketball! It all works out."

"How is me doing judo even relevant here?"

"Anyway, graphic design isn't basketball. It'll be different."

"I hope you're right."

* * *

He wasn't right. As expected. After a lot of explaining, confusion, and more confusing explanations, Natsu declared Lucy a hopeless case.

For her part, Lucy was quite frankly exhausted by Natsu's excessive use of graphic designer jargon. She couldn't understand half of what he said. Every time he tried to explain something, he ended up having to give definitions for half his sentence, which only led to more jargon explanations. They went in circles like this for two hours before Lucy had to leave to get ready for work.

"How about you ask Gray?" Erza suggested when she and Lucy talked about it on the couch that night. Levy was brushing her teeth by the sink, listening in on Lucy's ranting.

"I can just look up tutorials online," Lucy said. "I think I've had enough of people trying to explain stuff to me."

"Yeah, but the tutorials are going to have a lot of information about things you don't need to know, which will waste your time. Just like what happened with Natsu," Levy said, her words somewhat muddled by the toothbrush in her mouth.

"I guess it can't hurt to ask," Lucy said. Her expression turned stern. "But if he starts talking about leading and kerning or corning or whatever, I'm out."

Erza snickered. "Corning?"

"I think it was actually called kerning," Lucy said.

"What is it?" Levy said.

"It's when you adjust the spacing between individual letters."

"See? You did learn something," Levy said.

"Yeah, I learned a lot of things that didn't tell me how to put words on this stupid poster. It was to the point where I was afraid to ask about how to do a QR code because that would mean another two hours of explaining useless stuff. And the QR code is the whole reason I'm doing this all on the computer in the first place."

"Definitely ask Gray," Erza said. "He helped me color-correct some photos of Jellal and I once. Took me about five minutes."

"With Natsu it'd've been more like five hours," Lucy groaned, and the other girls giggled. Really, she loved the kid to death, but he got way too carried away sometimes.

* * *

She did take Erza's advice to ask Gray. They met up the next afternoon between Gray's classes, and just like Erza said, he was an efficient teacher. He seemed to know exactly how to explain things in layman's terms, and suddenly Photoshop's overwhelming complexity didn't seem so overwhelming anymore. He made sure her scan was at print-quality resolution and everything, something she'd never have thought of on her own.

"You are a lifesaver," she said.

Gray chuckled. "Better than ol' Chili Pepper, huh?"

"When it comes to teaching me Photoshop? Yes. Much better."

"Good. I gotta go to my next class, but you can take it from here, right?"

"I think so. Thanks a ton, Gray," she said.

Gray turned to leave and opened the door straight into Natsu.

Natsu blinked. "What're you still doing here?" he said.

"Helping out a friend," Gray said. "Don't worry, I was just leaving." He pushed past Natsu and left down the hall. Natsu joined Lucy by her computer, peering at the screen as he put down his bag.

He looked closer at the finished poster. His face scrunched up in some weird emotion. It almost looked like he was upset. "Wait, you actually got it?"

"Yeah," Lucy said, tilting her head.

Natsu ran both hands through his hair. "Argh! How come that Icebox can teach it to you but not me?"

So that was it. Lucy rolled her eyes.

"What? What's that look for?"

"Natsu, you're a terrible teacher. We already established this."

"Not fairrrr," he whined, slumping down into the chair next to hers. She reached over and patted his shoulder.

"There, there. You did your best, and I'm very grateful for the effort you put into it. It just didn't work out, that's all. Not your fault." Well, she wasn't feeling particularly grateful last night when she was still frustrated, but she didn't need to mention that.

"But I wanted to be the one to help you."

"You did."

"But you didn't get it until Gray helped you."

"In this case, it's the thought that counts."

He continued to sulk, a childish pout on his face and arms crossed, slumped so far down in the chair he was practically horizontal. Lucy held back a giggle. When Natsu sulked, he went all-out to look as grumpy as possible. It was just so… _Natsu._

"Look, there's still one thing you can help me with."

He didn't look up. "What?"

"How to save."

Natsu glanced at her screen, then at her. "You just hit command-S. It's like any other program."

"I know that, but that saves it as a PSD and I can't use that at the library print station, I don't think. I wanted to save it as a PDF, but there were so many options and I got confused."

Natsu's face brightened when he realized Lucy really did need help with something. "Oh, that's no problem," he said. "Any of them should be fine, but a PDF x-1a is industry standard so just use that. That's what we usually export things as in print classes."

"X-1a…"

"Yeah. Just like that."

"Oh. Okay. That's easier than I thought."

"Right? There's a lot of options so it's easy to get overwhelmed, but most of it is for stuff you'll never need, so you can just ignore it and leave it at the default settings."

"Okay. Great! Thanks, Natsu."

"No problem," he said, chest puffed with pride. Really, he got so worked up over the smallest things. At least his explanation was clear and concise this time. If he'd tried to explain any of those extra PDF options, she might have died of frustration.

Natsu was there for a class that was going to take place in the design lab shortly, so Lucy packed up and went back home until her own class. When that let out, Natsu was waiting for her.

"I hung around to work on stuff without the distractions of my apartment," he said. The usual excuse for why he waited for her every time. Well, not that she minded. It was usually dark, and she appreciated not having to walk home alone, even if it was a safe and well-traveled area.

As they left the studio, a familiar face came out of the elevators.

"Levy!" Lucy said, jogging forward to hug her roommate.

"Hey, Lu. I see Natsu's here too."

"Hi," he greeted. He eyed the large cardboard construction beside her. "And, uhh…"

Gajeel's head peered from around the side of the sculpture. "Yo."

Lucy jumped, not expecting his head to pop out like that. "Jeez, Gajeel. Leave it to you to make something so unwieldy."

"Actually it's mine," Levy said. "He's just helping me carry it for obvious reasons." It was probably taller than Levy herself, seeing as even Gajeel was dwarfed by it. But this abstract shape wasn't something Lucy had come to expect of Levy.

"I'd never work with something as flimsy as cardboard," Gajeel said, sounding a little annoyed that they'd even consider the idea.

"It's different from your usual, Levy," Lucy noted.

Levy adjusted her headband thoughtfully. "Yeah, well I wanted to get away from my usual style and do something that wasn't typographic for once. I'm not sure how I like it, but I tried."

"It looks good," Lucy said. "Very abstract."

"Thanks for the effort," Levy said wryly.

When it came to sculpture, Lucy couldn't tell a Play Dough creation from a fine arts masterpiece, and they both knew it. Most artists at least had a vague idea about the other fine arts fields, but Lucy was not one of those artists. Even that poster she just made, she was simply trusting that Natsu or Gray would've pointed out any glaring design mistakes. The only arts thing she was confident in were her sketches and painting.

After Gajeel dropped Levy's sculpture off where she needed it to be, they went back to the boys' apartment together to hang out. The boys, of course, promptly got into an argument that they, of course, had to settle with arm wrestling. Honestly, these two were too much.

While Natsu and Gajeel were at a stalemate, there was a knock on the door.

"Did someone order takeout?" Levy said.

"Wasn't us," Gajeel said, not taking his eyes away from his contest with Natsu.

"Maybe Gray forgot his keys," Lucy wondered aloud, getting up to answer the door since Gajeel and Natsu were both too focused on winning to bother answering the door in their own apartment.

She opened the door to find her favorite redhead behind it.

"Erza? You didn't say you were coming. You surprised me when you knocked," Lucy said.

"When I hear both my roommates are hanging out over here without me, of course I'll come," Erza said. Her eye caught sight of Natsu and Gajeel behind Lucy. "Oo, is this arm wrestling? I'll cream you both."

"It's fine even if you don't," Natsu said quickly.

"Face my challenge like men," Erza said. She rolled up her sleeves and marched to the table where the two were seated. "Natsu, you first. Show me what you've got."

"This can only end in blood," Levy said, standing beside Lucy with her arms crossed and a look of pity on her face.

Lucy closed the apartment door. "May their poor souls rest in peace," she added.

In the end, it was Erza who won the last bowl of ice cream, and the boys were left nursing their strained arm muscles. And when Gray got home later, it was only fair that Erza would challenge him as well. His punishment for losing was to go out and buy another carton of ice cream. So they all got ice cream in the end, even if the boys also got a couple sore right arms.

Sore arms that they would use to hang up Lucy's posters the next day. The boys always complained, but in reality, they were putty in the girls' hands.

"This isn't friendship. This is just cruel," Natsu moaned, tacking up another poster in a place Lucy wasn't able to reach on her own.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving her hand dismissively. "You can leave anytime, you know."

"No, I'm helping," Natsu said as if it were obvious.

Lucy smiled. Putty.


	4. Episode 4

**Episode 4:** In which there is actual nudity this time, courtesy of Erza.

* * *

"Lucy!"

Erza's voice bellowed from the second she swung open the front door to the apartment. Lucy glanced up from the couch, startled by Erza's sudden entrance.

"What?"

"I have a request for you," Erza said.

Lucy hesitated. "What kind of request?"

"I've decided what I want to do for my senior project," Erza said.

Out of their whole group, Erza was the oldest. Well, Jellal was the same age as Erza, but he'd taken a gap year so he was a junior just like Lucy and the rest. While all of them were preparing their final projects, Erza was preparing for her final project _ever._

"How does it involve me?" Lucy said. "Are you doing portraits?"

"Something like that," Erza said. "I've avoided doing really personal shoots, but I think for my last project I want to try. I was thinking about how far I've come since I was a little girl, when the thing I feared most was being vulnerable. If I was vulnerable, I could get hurt again, so I avoided it. But sometimes, like with friends, being vulnerable was a good thing, and it took me a long time to realize that. I want to do a photoshoot that explores vulnerability through the lens of how I experienced it, both the good and the bad."

Lucy smiled faintly. While Erza didn't talk about it much, she'd been in and out of foster care as a kid. Abusive homes, bullies, you name it. While certainly many kids ended up with good families, Erza's story was one of the tragic ones, the type that often got sensationalized in the news. That was why Erza didn't like talking about it. But if she'd decided to do a project inspired by her journey of healing and recovery from that kind of past, Lucy would do all she could to support her.

"What do you need me for?" Lucy said.

"I want you to model for me."

Lucy immediately agreed. "Just tell me when you want to shoot so I can fit it into my schedule."

"There's one more thing you should be aware of before you consent to this," Erza said.

"What is it?"

"This shoot is about vulnerability, after all," Erza said, "so I hope you don't mind shedding a few layers."

Oh. A nude photoshoot.

It was embarrassing to think about, but Lucy trusted Erza. If it was for Erza's sake, Lucy could let herself be exposed and vulnerable, just like Erza's topic called for.

"That's fine," Lucy said, her chest filling with determination. "Let's do it."

* * *

"Sorry to drag you into this too, Natsu," Erza said. She'd picked Lucy and Natsu up from the front lobby of the communications building and was walking them up to the photography studio she'd reserved. "I'd make Jellal do it if he were in the country this semester. I tried to get Gray to replace him first, but he refused to do it for me even after I threatened him. He takes his clothes off all the time so I'm not sure why." Erza's brow furrowed.

"He's shyer about his body than you'd think," Lucy said, laughing lightly.

"I wonder how Natsu got him to be a figure model."

"I wonder," Natsu echoed mysteriously, smiling a little.

"Well, here's the studio. I'm just finishing setting up, so make yourselves comfortable for a bit," Erza said. She opened the door to a well-lit room. On one side was a tall screen that almost looked like a projector, but hanging from it were screens of several different colors: white, blue, green, and the one currently in front, black. A few standing lights were set up around the shooting space, making the white walls almost glow in their light.

They closed the door firmly behind them. Erza went over to the lights immediately, adjusting the position and brightness of one of them. Meanwhile, Lucy wandered over a strange pile of objects set off to one side. There was a pile of different colored cloths, what seemed to be a fancy black birdcage, a rather dangerous-looking knife, and a little vial of red liquid.

"I borrowed props from the theater department," Erza said. She stopped fiddling with the light. "Lucy, bring the birdcage here."

Lucy did as she was told, setting the cage down on the floor.

"Okay, I'm starting off with the easiest one. I'll do Lucy first. Lucy, I want you to take off your clothes and huddle inside the birdcage."

Lucy flushed. "A-All of them?" Right now? At once?

"Yup. Don't worry, it'll be warm enough under all these lights. And if not, I brought blankets for you two to use between takes."

"I'll have to be naked, too?" Natsu said.

Erza looked annoyed. "Partly, yes. I told you two this project is about vulnerability. Yes, you will be spending most of these shots naked. I do have one or two clothed scenes in mind, but I picked out clothes you'll need to change into later."

Lucy began stripping down, feeling a little embarrassed. It wasn't that she was ashamed about her body, but there was something odd about being photographed naked. Sure, it was for an artistic photoshoot, but it almost felt like she was taking straight-up nudes. But she'd already agreed to all this, and she wasn't about to back out on her word just because of a little discomfort. She could handle it.

When she curled into the birdcage, just barely managing to squeeze herself in comfortably, she realized that at least in this shot, most of her "inappropriate" parts would be covered by her legs, which were drawn up to her chin. So this was what Erza meant by "the easiest one."

Lucy did her best impression of a wistful, lonely expression as Erza flitted around her, camera snapping away. She had a good laugh when Erza turned the birdcage, causing Lucy to fall off-balance for a moment and nearly toppling herself sideways. But soon enough, Erza was finished, and Lucy sat patiently inside the cage while Erza did a brief once-over of the photos she'd taken.

"They look good," Erza concluded. Lucy smiled in relief. It was getting cramped in here. "There's one more thing I want to try with the cage. Do you need to get out and stretch?"

"I'll be fine for a little more," Lucy said.

"Okay, come out halfway and I'll tangle your hair in the bars a bit. Don't worry, I won't knot it up for real, just enough that it'll be convincing in the photos."

"What kind of weird shoot is this?" Natsu said with a derisive snort, earning a glare from Erza.

"I welcome suggestions, but if you're going to complain, you can switch places with Lucy right now. I'm going to make you do the same things anyway," Erza said.

That shut him up quickly.

They proceeded to do a variety of shots, some of them variations on the same concept, all of them seeming to lead up to something. First she was in the cage, then held back by the cage, then she was tangled in thorns, then she was weaving a daisy crown, then she was eating a peach. The props seemed random, but Lucy knew each situation meant something significant to Erza, so she did her best to follow Erza's specific directions. There were a few standard "vulnerable" poses of just Lucy against the black background, then they moved on to poses involving Natsu as an antagonist-like character. He held a knife to her neck, she held out her hands dripping with fake blood.

After a break to rest and revive their energy with pizza Erza had delivered to the studio, they did it all again with Natsu as the vulnerable one this time.

By the time they finished shooting, the sky outside was dark.

"Wow, we were in there a while," Lucy said.

"Thank you two for coming today. I had a lot of trouble coming up with poses for this photoshoot, but I think it'll turn out great. I'll treat you two to sushi sometime as payment."

"Yes!" Natsu cheered. He was always a sucker for free food, Lucy thought while giggling. Well, she was a sucker for free food too. Erza got her photos taken, Lucy and Natsu got sushi. Fair trade as far as Lucy was concerned.

* * *

Erza started work on editing them the very next day. While Lucy was in class, she got a text from Erza telling her to come by the photography computer labs.

 _"I'm going through the photos from the shoot,"_ it read. _"Want to see?"_

When Lucy arrived, Erza let her in. Lucy stood behind Erza's chair, leaning over to get a better view as she scrolled through the photos. It seemed Erza had already narrowed it down to a few options per scene, so Lucy could see several of the poses at once. Erza wasn't kidding when she said this shoot was about vulnerability: there was sadness, childlike trust, fear, all sorts of emotions she'd captured on Lucy and Natsu's faces, all of which came back to that central theme of being vulnerable. Seeing them all together, it was really incredible.

"It looks great, Erza," Lucy said, a little astonished at how well they'd turned out.

"I still have to narrow it down and do some editing," Erza said, "but you two were good models. The expressions and body language are exactly what I was looking for."

"I'll be expecting some high-quality sushi, then, as payment for our good work," Lucy said, grinning.

Erza kept scrolling, past one that had Lucy full-on nude in front of the camera, everything showing. Almost on instinct, Lucy frantically covered the screen with her hands. "Delete that one!" she said. "Delete, delete!"

"I actually like that one," Erza said. "It looks candid, not staged."

"But I'm…I'm…" Lucy could feel her face heating up.

"You're practically nude in all of them, Lucy."

"Yeah, but…"

Erza sighed. "If the model wishes it so, I won't refuse," she said.

Lucy's cheeks burned. "Thanks," she mumbled. She was fine with most of them, but there was something about having her full-on naked body displayed at the senior art show that Lucy couldn't manage to stomach. She'd gotten enough gross cat-calls on campus already. And what if, by some long shot, her father ended up seeing them? She didn't even want to think about what kind of backlash she'd get from him over it. No, it was best to play it safe by using the less risqué photos.

Of course, the whole photoshoot was unexpectedly risqué. But that was Erza for you. She was so strict it was easy to think she'd be a more modest person, but out of the girls, the one who wore the most revealing clothing and read the most trashy romance novels was definitely Erza.

Though the photoshoot was themed around Erza's life experiences, Lucy couldn't help the nagging feeling that Erza also had really just wanted to do a nude photoshoot before her time in school was up.

Erza's scrolling made it to some of the more intimate poses, and Lucy found herself blushing all the way to her ears again. At the time the poses had been kind of fun and ticklish, actually, but the angles and lighting really did make the photos look sensual. And all those seemingly random props suddenly gained meaning and context that hadn't been apparent to Lucy during the shoot.

Erza's perfect 4.0 GPA even in a difficult and subjective art major often seemed impossible, but looking at her skill with the camera, it was obvious where those grades came from.

"Man, I really hope my father doesn't decide to come out of the woodworks anytime soon," Lucy said. "Even without that photo I told you to delete, he'd probably kill me if he saw some of these."

"Oh, I already plan to pick at least one photo that would give Levy a heart attack," Erza said with a smirk. "Exposing oneself to intimacy and physicality is one type of vulnerability, after all. I couldn't in good conscience do this project without exploring some sensual shots, too."

"I know how much you love that stuff, but don't forget the non-sensual ones either, okay?"

"Don't worry," Erza said. "I have my goals with this project and I don't intend to forget them."

Lucy glanced at the paper Erza had next to her that outlined her artist's statement for the project:

 _Through action and emotion, I will photograph the various types of vulnerability we experience in our lives: the vulnerability of a child dependent on its guardians, the vulnerability of opening oneself up to love and friendship, the vulnerability of one's delicate life held in someone else's hands, the perpetual vulnerability of both the mind and body. By learning to embrace our vulnerability instead of fearing it, we can survive and endure the things that make us feel weak. We learn that to be vulnerable is not a weakness, but a strength. We overcome._

Lucy smiled. She hadn't known Erza when Erza was at her weakest, but even Lucy could tell how far Erza had come from the broken and guarded young girl she was in the past.

Wrapping her arms around Erza's shoulders, Lucy hugged her from behind. "You're the best," Lucy said, squeezing Erza tight.

"W-What is this for?" Erza said, flustered. But she turned in her chair to hug Lucy back.

"Nothing," Lucy said, closing her eyes and smiling into Erza's shoulder. "You're just the best, that's all."


	5. Episode 5

**Episode 5:** In which there is pure, unadulterated fluff.

* * *

When she painted, she tied her hair back in a bun to keep it from falling forward onto the canvas. Old jeans and a paint-splattered t-shirt, dirty sneakers, a smudge of color on her cheek. Somehow, if it was Lucy, even the messy act of painting could become elegant.

Paintbrush her hand, she pulled it in smooth strokes across the canvas under harsh fluorescent lights. A mixture of cerulean and celadon tangled on the canvas, blending under her skilled hands until they danced with life. She let out a long breath. She was gonna throw up.

She nearly _did_ throw up at the sound of the door swinging open with a loud bang.

"Hey, Lucy!"

She groggily turned toward the door. "Natsu? What are you doing here?"

"Getting you out of here. Hurry up and put everything away."

"I'm not done yet," she said. That much had to be obvious. While she'd gotten most of the large areas of color in, she was having trouble on the details. The painting was still obviously unfinished.

"Phew, it smells something awful in here. Don't you have the vents on?"

"Of course," Lucy said. "Do you think I have a death wish?"

"You have to, staying in a closed windowless room when the fumes are this bad."

"It's really that bad? I don't smell anything."

"Trust me, it's awful in here," Natsu said. "Are you sure it's properly ventilated?"

Lucy looked up at the vents that were supposed to clear out the fumes from oil paints. They were definitely running, but if it was really as bad as Natsu said it was, that could explain why she felt so nauseous.

"Maybe they're not working properly," she wondered.

"Anyway, hurry and pack your things. I'm getting you out of here."

"But it's due in two days and I still haven't—"

"If you don't stop what you're doing, I'm going to tell Erza about the cake incident."

Lucy paled a little. He seemed serious. "Fine, fine, I'm cleaning up," she said, closing up her paints. She picked up her brushes and went to the sink to get them cleaned out. "Happy now?"

Natsu sat on the floor and smiled up at her in that childlike way of his. "Very."

After she'd gotten the paint out of her brushes and packed up all her supplies, Natsu hauled her out of the art building without even giving her a chance to talk to management about ventilation concerns.

"You smell, Lucy," he said from behind her, one hand on each shoulder as he steered her toward her apartment.

"Thanks," she said, rolling her eyes. "I can walk on my own, you know."

"Nope, I gotta make sure you go home. You smell like paint. And that thing you used to clean the brushes smelled too."

"The paint thinner? Well yeah, it's a toxic chemical."

"Why don't you use normal paints?"

"You mean water-based paints? I can't always stick to watercolors and acrylics; if I want to become an art professor, I'll need to be comfortable with different materials."

"That's stupid."

"That's life."

He kept his hands on her shoulders steering her the whole way to her apartment, bouncing impatiently on his toes as she fished for her keys. As soon as they got inside, he shoved her into the bathroom and closed the door.

"I'll bring you a towel and clothes so hurry up and shower."

"I already have a towel in here, and I don't even want to think of what atrocious outfits you'd come up with, but thanks anyway," she said.

"If you say so," came his voice from the other side of the door. "Take your time. Don't faint."

"I won't." The fresh air had cleansed her of all wooziness, and she felt better already. But now that she was back in a closed space, she could smell the oils in her clothes. Natsu was right; she really did need to shower.

She spent a long time in the shower. She didn't know the last time she'd washed herself — was it yesterday, or two days ago? Or three? She'd lost track of time somewhere in the frenzy of finishing all her final projects.

Feeling much refreshed, she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off with her favorite fluffy towel. She wrapped it around her torso, holding it in place with her arms clamped to her sides, and cracked the bathroom door open.

Natsu heard the squeak of the door swinging open and ran from wherever he was. "You're done!" he said, shoving a bundle of clothing into her arms. "Here, get changed into this."

Lucy looked down at the clothes in her arms. "Natsu, this is a dress. I can't paint in this."

"That's because you're not gonna paint."

"But it's due in—"

"My project's due too, and you don't see me working on it right now, do you? I said I'm getting you out of there, and I mean it. We're taking a break."

"Natsu, I really don't have the time for this," Lucy said. She felt bad, but her grades were important to her, and she _needed_ to finish that painting even if it killed her. His idea was sweet, but she couldn't do it.

"Lucy Heartfilia." Natsu's face turned dark, his eyebrows scrunched and his lips in the pout he used when he was trying to be taken seriously. Lucy gulped. He didn't use her full name often, and it was usually followed by a threat. "If you don't take a break, I will personally make sure that Erza knows every. last. detail. about the cake incident, _and_ I'll tell Gray about the time you borrowed his boxers."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

Lucy looked doubtfully at the clothes he'd given her. It was just a dress, so there was nothing that could be mismatched. He'd even brought her clean underwear. There was nothing she could protest against, especially not after those threats.

"Why do you want me to go out so bad?" Lucy said quietly. He had his own finals to worry about, and he was going through all this effort to interrupt her work.

"Lucy, you've been holed up in that stuffy studio for days. You've barely been eating. Erza said you never went home last night. And honestly, you look so tense you might snap any moment. I'd tell you to sleep it off, but I know you'll end up lying awake worrying for hours, so I'm taking you out for a little stress-relief."

"But you have your own finals and—"

"Lucy."

She pouted. "Fine. Thanks."

"Now hurry up and get changed. I made lunch reservations."

"It's already lunchtime?" she said, pulling out her phone to check the time. Sure enough, it was almost noon. "Wow, where did the time go?"

"Don't worry, I got this all planned out. It'll be fun."

"I wasn't worried about that. With you, it's always fun."

He grinned. "Then come on. Let's go!"

"Okay!"

She changed into the dress Natsu'd picked out — Lucy wondered if he knew it was her favorite — and followed him out the door. They took the bus to the new Thai restaurant that opened in the shopping district, the one Lucy had once mentioned she wanted to try. Natsu really did take note of everything.

After a delicious lunch, they did some window-shopping on their way down to the waterfront. Lucy balanced on the low wall that divided the footpath from the canal, Natsu following alongside her in the grass.

"So," she said, "what's the plan for dinner?"

"Already thinking about dinner?" he said, his voice taking on a teasing tone.

"What? I'm just curious. You said you had the whole day planned out."

"When we get to the end of the canal, we're gonna hang out in the park and have a picnic."

"Is that what the blanket's for?" she said, gesturing to the fabric peeking out of the large backpack he brought with him.

He nodded. "We're gonna order takeout when we get hungry, and then for dessert we'll get waffles from that place nearby. You can nap if you want. Or people-watch. Or just talk, or whatever. You seem to like doing quiet things, so I thought you'd like that."

"I do," she said, jumping down to give him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks."

"Actually it was Levy's idea. She was gonna come too, but she messed up a measurement and had to go out to get more cardboard," Natsu said.

"Well, spending time with just the two of us is fun too."

"You're not sick of me yet?"

"You're treating me to food, so I think I'll let you stick around a little longer."

"Hmm, is that so? I was planning on each of us paying our own share, actually."

"Guess I'm sick of you then."

"Damn."

* * *

After spending an hour or two chatting and people-watching while eating takeout Chinese food, they got the waffle shop's specialty: a warm waffled folded in half around a scoop of ice cream. Lucy got her typical chocolate, and Natsu went for green tea. Full and satisfied, they headed home to Natsu's place before it got dark and watched a movie that ended with the two of them cuddling together on the couch long after the credits were over.

A hand absently stroked her hair, tucking a stray strand behind her ear. "Feeling better?"

"Lots," she said, snuggling more comfortably into his side.

"Good," he said, placing an affectionate kiss on the top of her head. "Your painting looks great already so you'll finish it in no time."

"It's barely halfway done, but I appreciate the sentiment." Lucy laughed. "Thanks for taking me out today, though. Regardless of how much more time I need on that thing, getting away for a day did me good, I think."

"I also saved you from passing out in that smelly room."

Lucy sat up suddenly. "The vents! I needed to talk to the office about that!"

"Relax," Natsu said, pulling her back down. "I already told Levy to get someone to look into it. She said it was a small electrical issue and they fixed it up quick 'cause it was dangerous."

"Honestly, what would I do without you?"

A key turned in the front door and Gray came in. He paused for a moment when he saw the two of them on the couch, then closed the door behind himself.

"What are you love bugs up to?" he teased, shedding his jacket.

"Wanna join the cuddle pile?" Lucy said.

"Don't mind if I do," he said, plopping himself down on Lucy's other side and wrapping his arms around her middle. "I hate finals," he said, voice muffled by Lucy's shirt.

"What were you up to today?" Natsu asked.

"What do you think? Coding my website. Hey, how far along are you? I feel like I'm going too slow to get it done in time.'

"Well I just spent my day hanging out with Lucy so I'm probably in worse shape," Natsu said. "But we both needed the break so it was worth it."

"So that's what you two were up to. I was wondering what Lucy was doing here after spending the last couple days holed up in that awful studio room," Gray said. "Good on you for getting her out of there."

"Jeez, was everybody that worried about me?"

"Yes," the men chorused.

"Gah, no, Happy," Gray complained as the cat walked up his side and over Lucy into Natsu's lap.

"Happy wanted to cuddle too," Lucy giggled.

"It _is_ cozy here," Gray said.

"And I'm the coziest, surrounded by two soft human pillows," Lucy said.

"You're pretty soft yourself," Gray said.

Natsu lifted the arm that was around Lucy's shoulders to knock Gray's head.

"Ow! Hey, watch it!"

"No sexual harassment in the cuddle pile," Natsu ordered.

"I meant in general, not her boobs, you perv. I'm not even touching them."

"Neither of you are touching my boobs, and it is going to stay that way," Lucy snapped. "Thank you, Gray. I'm glad I am a comfortable pillow. Natsu, stop using me as an excuse to hit Gray for no reason."

"Dammit, Lucy."

"You're too transparent," Lucy said. "Find a better excuse next time. And _not_ while we're in the cuddle pile."

"Fine, fine."

"Yeah, Natsu, no hitting people in the cuddle pile."

"Lucy already said that. _Now_ who's the one looking for an excuse to fight?"

"If both of you don't shut up, I'm declaring this cuddle pile over."

"Noooo," Natsu whined, snuggling his face into her hair while Gray tightened his embrace. Lucy was effectively trapped; even if she did want to end the cuddle pile, it would be impossible at this point. Who could resist these two?

"Actually," Gray said, extracting himself from the three-way embrace, "I really wanted to shower when I got back, so I'm gonna go do that now. You two don't get up to any funny business while I'm gone, all right?"

"Yes, Mom," Lucy said, rolling her eyes.

They listened in silence to the sounds of Gray shuffling around in his room, and then the spray of the shower hissed in the background. It was a pleasant quietness that throbbed to the beat of Natsu's heart.

"Cozy?" Natsu said, the deeper tones rumbling loudly in Lucy's ears. She loved listening the sound of someone's voice through their chest. It was a warm and intimate sound.

"Quite," she said.

"Think you'll get your painting done on time?"

"Did you say I'll be fine for sure and that it looks great?"

"That's just my opinion. I'm asking about you."

"I'm nervous, especially since I wasted a whole day, but I think I'll be able to go back refreshed and get a lot done. And all my other classes I'm not worried about."

"Good. Then today wasn't a waste."

"How could spending an entire day with you ever be a waste?" she said, grinning up at him. "How about you?"

"My finals? Eh, I'll be fine. For the website, the professor seems to like my design so it's just a matter of finishing the markup, which is time-consuming but not too hard. My app…let's not talk about that one."

Lucy giggled. "C's get degrees," she quipped.

"God, I hope so."

She reached down to absently scratch Happy, causing him to erupt into violent purring. He stretched out, exposing more of his neck and stomach for Lucy to scratch. Natsu squirmed a little at the movement, but they soon found a comfortable position to accommodate all three of them, man, woman, and cat.

Sometime during this idyllic domestic scene, Lucy began to drift off to sleep. Natsu was right; she'd needed this. And badly. But she could thank him for it later; for now, sleep.


	6. Episode 6

**Episode 6:** In which they adopt a smol.

* * *

For some ungodly reason, the university decided to run an overnight stay for newly accepted students the week before finals. And of course, Levy had to volunteer herself to host one of these future freshmen. Maybe it was Lucy's fault for agreeing to Levy's idea, but on the morning of their guest's arrival, all she wanted to was shut herself in their room and sleep for days. Unfortunately, they had some last-minute cleaning to do.

"Hurry up! She'll be here any minute," Erza bellowed, every inch of her in Titania Mode, as their group liked to call it. Powerful and deadly as a dread queen.

"There's only one more left," Lucy shouted back, fumbling with the throw pillow she was supposed to be putting the cover back on. Erza had insisted they wash _everything_ that could be washed, and the throw pillows on the couch were no exception.

Lucy spared a glance over at Erza in the kitchen, scrubbing down the stove for what was probably the fourth time.

"Erza, it's already spotless. Calm down before the prospie gets here; we don't want to intimidate her."

"How am I intimidating?" Erza said, glowering.

Lucy ignored the shiver running down her spine under Erza's gaze. "Your brow is furrowed and you're sweating a little from all the running around we've been doing." So was Lucy, for different reasons.

Erza did a quick armpit check. "Oh. You're right."

"The stove's fine, so go freshen up. She shouldn't be here for another ten minutes. I'll finish up out here."

Erza acquiesced, much to Lucy's relief. "But it better still be spotless, got it?"

"Relax, Erza. I'm not like Natsu."

"This is true," Erza said. Her face darkened again. "That reminds me, I'd better get the boys to do their cleaning too in case circumstances have us visiting their apartment with our guest. I can't have her witnessing such a pigsty."

"Save that for another time," Lucy said.

"You're right. I'll be right back."

When Erza returned, they sat together waiting impatiently for Levy to come back with their guest. Erza was stiff, but Lucy could tell she was itching to get up and pace. But, ever calm and collected, she sat still next to Lucy.

There was the telltale sound of a key in the lock, and Lucy sat up straight. A moment later, Levy apparently discovered that they'd left the door unlocked for her because it swung open and she stepped inside with the prospective student nervously behind her.

This girl was small and looked much younger than your usual high school senior. Her incredibly long, straight hair was pulled up in two high pigtails and she had wide brown eyes that drew straight to Lucy and Erza, smiling nervously. Lucy immediately liked her.

"These are my roommates, Erza and Lucy," Levy introduced. "As you both know, this is Wendy."

"Hi," Wendy said quietly.

"Hello," Lucy said. "You'll be staying with me and Levy. We're glad to have you."

"It looks spotless in here," Levy said, looking around. "Did Erza make you clean, Lu?"

Lucy snorted a laugh. "That's an understatement."

"We cannot allow a guest to deal with our squalor," Erza said.

"What squalor? We're all neat freaks, so our apartment is actually pretty clean," Levy said to Wendy. "But this level of perfection is unusual. It hardly looks lived in," Levy added, glancing at Erza with a bemused smile.

"I clean when I'm nervous," Erza mumbled, averting her eyes.

Levy laughed. "Aww, don't get shy! Wendy, come this way and you can put down your stuff. They gave us some spare time before your activities start, so why don't we go get lunch with everyone? Is that okay? I don't want to overwhelm you."

"That sounds great," Wendy said enthusiastically.

"Great!" Levy said. "We'll take you out, our treat." She simply winked in response to Wendy's protests as they walked back to Levy and Lucy's room. Wendy put down her duffel bag by the mattress they'd laid out for her on the floor, and they all went out together to lunch at a nearby café.

Turns out Wendy was paired with Levy because they were both interested in an art field, although Wendy's was quite different: music. She was accepted to the program and was at the university to determine if she really wanted to pursue it. Playing in an orchestra was her dream, but the fact that she had more theater experience made her feel obligated to lean in that direction.

"I think you should go for music," Levy said. "If you want to play an instrument, then do just that."

"But I don't have the experience," Wendy said. "Those spots are limited at a school like this. It should go to someone who deserves it more than I do. I've mostly done theater, so it feels wrong for me to jump ahead of people who have been dedicated to band since the beginning."

"But you're here and you passed the auditions. The school obviously thinks you deserve it."

"I'm just uncertain," Wendy said.

Lucy didn't know what to say to all this; she'd been set in her path since the beginning. Well, that wasn't entirely true — she did consider studying literature or psychology, and even business — but once she let herself follow her heart, painting had become an easy choice.

Levy seemed pensive, but ultimately didn't prod Wendy any further. After lunch, Levy took Wendy to the prospective student activities, and Lucy didn't meet up with them again until they ran into each other in the art building.

"Oh, hi!" Lucy said when the elevator doors opened to reveal her friend and their guest. She, Natsu, and Erza scooted over to make room for two additional bodies.

"I'm giving her a tour of the arts building real quick," Levy said, pushing the "close doors" button.

"It's a good time to be here, too. They're setting up the senior art show," Lucy said. In fact, Lucy was helping Erza carry her senior project prints right now, the ones from the photoshoot she had Natsu and Lucy appear in. Huge ones. Giant poster-sized prints.

"Levy, how is your project going?" Erza asked, seeming oblivious to the way their guest was turning a bright shade of red.

"It's going well," Levy said, looking between Wendy and the photographs. "Um, Erza, you might want to turn your images the other way."

"What do you mean?"

"I think you're making Wendy uncomfortable," Lucy said.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Erza shifted the photographs so they were facing the front of the elevator rather than toward Wendy.

"Are…are you the ones in the photographs?" Wendy asked shyly, looking at Lucy and Natsu.

"Aye," Natsu said, grinning. "We look good, huh?"

"Natsu," Lucy scolded, elbowing his arm.

"What? I think they turned out great."

"Yeah, and we're also practically naked in them. You can't just ask her if we 'look good.'"

"You're all terrible," Levy said, wrapping her arms around Wendy and pulling her close. "You're ruining her innocence."

"I really don't mind," Wendy said quietly. "I do think they're great photographs. It's just…strange to see them next to the subjects."

Now Lucy was turning red as well. "Erza's shoot was about vulnerability," she explained. "Nudity was an obvious choice, but the poses themselves are actually really ingenious. Erza's a really gifted photographer."

The elevator doors opened and Erza stepped out first, maneuvering the huge prints through the doors. They helped Erza get the prints to her little corner of the senior art show, and Erza launched into an explanation of her works for Wendy while Levy took Lucy aside to talk about dinner plans. The school said that hosts would take their young charges out to dinner (preferably at the school cafeteria, but it was too expensive for Levy to entertain that idea), and originally Levy was going to take Wendy out for a casual dinner, but now she was suggesting that they have a pasta party at the girls' apartment.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lucy said. "I thought we _didn't_ want to overwhelm her."

"It's fine," Levy said. "I need her to meet Gajeel and he won't do it unless I disguise it as a larger gathering."

"Why do you want her to meet Gajeel?"

"You'll see."

"It better not be some weird reason," Lucy said.

"Don't you trust me?"

"Only sometimes."

* * *

They had dinner at the girls' apartment as Levy planned, all eight people crammed into the living room while Juvia and Levy figured out the cooking.

They went around in turn, each of them stating their name. Lucy seriously doubted Wendy would be able to remember all their names after hearing them once, but they could always tell her again later.

"…and that's the whole gang," Lucy concluded, hands on her hips.

"The only one missing is Jellal," Erza said.

"Jellal?"

"Erza's imaginary friend," Natsu told Wendy.

"He's not imaginary," Erza said.

"But he's never around so he might as well be," Natsu said, earning himself a harsh glare from Erza. He wisely shut his mouth. They'd managed to cure Erza of her habit of using physical force when agitated, but she was still a force to be reckoned with. Mess with Erza and she would mess you up.

"He was Gajeel's roommate, but right now he's abroad. You won't be meeting him," Erza said.

"One less name to remember, huh?" Lucy said, giving Wendy a wink. She laughed in response.

"Wendy," Levy called from the kitchen, "why don't you tell them what you were telling us at lunch?"

Wendy hesitated, trying to remember what Levy was referring to.

Levy left the cooking up to Juvia for a moment and sat down on the arm of the couch next to Gajeel. "I mean, your concerns about taking the music acceptance here as opposed to doing theater."

Wendy nodded. "Oh, that," she said. She repeated her story while the larger group listened.

The second time around, Wendy seemed to have a better idea of how to word things, because Lucy was starting to understand Wendy's hesitation. For Lucy, going into painting hadn't been a difficult choice because she knew her main hobby — writing — wasn't something she wanted to do as a career. But Wendy didn't have that certainty, so her two passions were conflicting with each other.

"If your dream has changed, that's okay," Erza said slowly, "but I wouldn't hesitate to take an acceptance just because you weren't in band in high school. Like Levy said earlier today, the music professors obviously thought you deserved it when they accepted you."

Wendy nodded. "Yeah," she said simply.

"Gajeel, why don't you say something?" Levy said, nudging his shoulder.

"Why should I have to?" Gajeel grumbled.

"Come on, I can tell you're itching to say something."

Gajeel scowled and crossed his arms.

Levy turned to Wendy with a conspiring expression. "You know," she said quietly, "Gajeel was almost a music major."

Gajeel turned to her in protest as everyone else shouted out in shock. This was new information. Lucy knew he liked jazz, but that was about the extent of his involvement in music. Or, so she thought.

Natsu said what all of them were thinking: "Gajeel? A music major?" His nose wrinkled in a mixture of confusion and disgust.

Levy giggled. "He didn't pass the auditions," she said, meeting Gajeel's glare with a cheeky grin.

"Shut it, Shrimp. I didn't tell you that so you could spread it around," he said.

"So? What instrument do you play?" Erza said.

"Guitar," Natsu said. "Definitely guitar."

"Does he play it at home?" Lucy asked. It was her first time hearing about it.

"Yeah, and sings. He only does it when he thinks no one's there."

"Is Gajeel a good singer?" Juvia asked.

"I'm decent," Gajeel said at the same time as Natsu said, "He's awful." They glared at each other.

"Is that why you transferred here?" Lucy said, continuing the conversation quickly before they started fighting.

"Nah, that was before I entered my old school. Sculpture was my second choice because I like making stuff with metal but I ain't got the patience to fix things like a mechanic, so when I got rejected, I made my major that instead. I ended up switching here 'cause there's a metalworking program and they let me use their shop."

"So everything worked out in the end," Lucy concluded.

Gajeel turned to Wendy. "Listen, kid, you already got the acceptance, so you better do it, ya hear? No chickening out. You've earned it."

"Got it," Wendy said, nodding firmly. There was still some hesitation in her eyes, but her smile was confident.

"We'll take good care of you," Gray said, habitually placing a hand on Wendy's head. "If there's anything you want to know about this school, just ask. We've been here long enough that we should know most things, or at least know where to look for the answers."

"Be careful, Wendy," Juvia said, arriving in the living room with a full pot of pasta and a stack of plates.

Seeing the food finished, Levy jumped up to fetch the rest.

"It seems like Wendy is being adopted into the group," Juvia continued. "Once she is adopted, there is no escape. Juvia learned that the hard way."

"Hey, it's not all bad, is it?" Gray said.

Juvia smiled. "Of course not. Juvia is simply warning her in case she wishes to avoid it."

"I-I don't mind," Wendy said. "I'm thankful for the help."

"We can be a little overbearing when we're all together like this," Lucy said. "Feel free to say 'no' anytime."

"Hey, she can replace Erza," Natsu said. "Erza's not gonna be in school anymore next year, and Wendy's coming in."

Wendy giggled. "I don't think I could replace someone like Erza," she said.

"She learns fast," Erza said. "You trying to replace me, Natsu?"

"No, ma'am," Natsu said quickly.

Food out and plates distributed, they all began serving themselves (some took more generous portions than the rest) and continued their chatter over the sound of forks clinking against plates and Gajeel fighting with Natsu over the last helping of pasta.

In only a week, Erza would be graduating. By the time next semester rolled around, the rest of the gang would all be seniors, and their young guest would likely be their underclassman. Time was flying by.

For some reason, though, Lucy wasn't afraid of all the changes to come. It was thanks to her friends that she was able to live such a bright and colorful life amidst the struggles of young adulthood. She'd become a family with these Fairy Tail friends of hers, and no matter where their lives took them, family they would remain. Of that she was certain.


	7. Bonus Episode

**Bonus Episode:** In which the twin dragon slayers are a literal embodiment of those dragon bros comics and I regret nothing.

This is the actual last part. It takes place the next school year after Episode 6. I mostly just wanted to shoehorn in a headcanon or two, so it's not part of the "official" story but whatever I was having too much fun with this to _not_ include it.

* * *

Lucy messed up. She'd really messed up. Well, she hadn't messed up _too_ terribly, but Natsu was definitely going to nag her about this if it didn't turn out well. First, though, she had a few questions to ask him.

"So you know my friend Yukino, right?" she said during a quiet dinner together in the boys' apartment one day.

"Yeah, the art school girl."

"Well her two best friends, who are really cool by the way, each have a cat."

"…yes, and?"

"Soooo we should have a cat playdate."

Natsu's face instantly fell into the most _done_ look she had ever seen on him. "Really? A cat playdate?"

"Come one, it'll be fun," she wheedled. "How often to Happy, Lily, and Charles get to hang out with cats that aren't each other? It'll be good for them."

"Or they could fight," Natsu said.

"Don't be so pessimistic," Lucy said. "I've wanted to introduce you guys for a while now. The cats are the perfect excuse to invite them over!"

"Where would we be doing this playdate?"

"Here, of course," Lucy said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Of course, it didn't get past Natsu.

"You already offered up our apartment as the location, didn't you?"

"Please?"

"Lucy, you're horrible."

Lucy pouted. It wasn't her fault she got carried away. Besides, last time it was Natsu who brought people over to Lucy's apartment uninvited, so she was allowed to have a similar slipup once.

"Fine. But if Gray and Gajeel don't agree, you have to tell your friend that you messed up and didn't ask for permission before setting this whole thing up."

Lucy jumped up and hugged Natsu tight. "You're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah. Tell me something I don't know."

* * *

The whole crew gathered at the boys' apartment until their three guests arrived. Even Erza deigned the event worthy to show up for, coming straight there from work. Lucy hadn't really anticipated all of them being there, but couldn't exactly tell them all _not_ to come. The more the merrier.

There was a flurry of activity as everyone made their way to the front door to greet the newcomers. Lucy, being the one who knew them, answered the door.

"Yukino!" Lucy exclaimed, hugging her friend.

"Lucy! Thanks for having us."

"Thanks for coming," Lucy said, releasing Yukino to give Rogue and Sting their greeting hugs. "I see the cats came safely as well," she said.

"They were very good on the ride over," Yukino said proudly.

"Um, there's a lot of people, so everyone make your introductions," Lucy said, gesturing around the small crowd. Those with cats introduced their cats as well, some in their owners' arms and the newcomers still in their carriers.

"Frosch?" Erza said upon hearing the unusual name.

"It's German for 'frog,'" Rogue said. "You'll understand when you see it run. Come on out, Frosch." He let the cat out of its carrier. Frosch took a couple careful steps, cautiously observing its surroundings. Then, seeing a few of the other cats being let down to meet it, it hopped over like a frog to start sniffing them.

"It jumps!" Natsu exclaimed in surprise.

"Frosch has some medical issues," Sting explained as he let Lector out of his carrier. "We think the hopping might be related to the pain or something."

"My poor baby is gonna have to get surgery soon," Rogue said.

Sting scoffed. "Your 'baby,' huh?"

Lucy smiled. According to Yukino, Rogue had fallen for Frosch at first sight, and he wouldn't take "no" for an answer no matter how much the pet store emphasized how expensive the surgeries would be. Now the two were practically inseparable, something Lucy had gotten to see for herself when she visited Yukino once.

As for Sting, he just wanted to adopt cats with Rogue and picked the one with "the best attitude."

"The white cat is Wendy's cat, and her name is Charles. Gajeel's cat is Lily; he's the one with the round ears. And then Happy's the blue one."

"Wait, wait, let me get this straight. Charles is a girl cat and Lily is a boy cat," Sting said.

"Yes," they all said almost in unison.

"Okay, got it."

"We didn't coordinate it that way," Wendy said, pulling Charles into her lap. "We named her Charles before we realized she was female, and we got too attached to the name to change it."

"My grannie liked tiger lilies," Gajeel explained. "I wanted to get an orange cat and name it Tiger Lily. But I got Lily here, and he ain't colored like a tiger, so I called him Panther Lily instead."

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard," Natsu said, hearing this story for the first time.

"Shut up."

"Well I think it's cute that he wanted to name his cat after his grannie's favorite flower," Lucy said.

"You shut up too."

"Come on, Gajeel, that was a compliment," Levy said.

"My cat doesn't like being called cute," Gajeel said.

"You have a cat named Lily," Lucy pointed out. "That's pretty cute if you ask me."

"Lily's tough," Gajeel said. "Look, see the scar over his eye?" He picked Lily up, and the cat just hung there, looking particularly grumpy in Gajeel's big hands. Both cat and owner had scowls on their faces. Matching big, grumpy lugs.

Levy giggled. "Nope, still pretty cute," she said.

"Frosch is the cutest," Rogue said, pulling it to his chest.

"Come on, bro, we both know Lector's cuter."

"Are you saying Charles isn't cute? Is it her name?" Wendy said.

"No, you're all wrong," Natsu said. "Happy's cuter. See? He's even blue!"

"I don't know, Natsu, a cat that thinks it's a frog is pretty damn cute," Gray said.

"Guys, let's not fight over who has the cuter cat," Lucy said. "We all know that nobody's going to win that fight. Everyone thinks their own cat is the cutest."

"No, Lily's tough, not cute," Gajeel insisted.

Lucy buried her face in her hands. These people were hopeless.

Yukino laughed and patted Lucy on the back. "Hang in there, Lucy. This whole cat thing was your idea, you know."

"I know," Lucy said.

"How about we let the cats play together and we can play some video games?" Gray said. "Anyone up for a Mario Kart tournament?"

"The only kind of driving I like," Natsu said. "Sign me the fuck up."

"It's just a game, no need to get so excited about it," Sting said, but he raised his hand as well to indicate participation.

"You're only saying that because you know you're gonna lose," Gajeel said.

"Oh yeah? Eat my pixelated dust, metal freak."

"I will, when I lap you for the second time."

Excited by all the trash talking, Natsu jumped up and let out a shout. "Oh, it is _on!_ I'm all fired up!"

The boys except for Gray followed Natsu to gather in front of the TV and argue over whether to play Mario Kart or one of the other games lined up on the shelves. Gray lingered behind to flash Lucy a smile.

"Thanks, Gray," she said.

"What? I didn't do anything."

But she knew if he hadn't put a stop to the cat argument, it never would've stopped. Honestly, what would Lucy do with these boys? She loved them all to death, but sometimes she didn't know what to do with the constant bickering. If nobody did anything, it could go on for hours. Lucy actually timed it once. Thankfully there was usually at least one person who put a stop to it before it got that far; today, that person was Gray.

"Mario Kart it is!" Erza announced, holding the game case aloft.

"Aye!"

"Honestly, how is this even going to work?' Lucy said to Gray, standing back with her arms crossed. "There are what…eleven of us? And only four controllers."

"Well, not all of us will want to play," Gray said. "Right, Juvia?"

"Juvia is very bad at video games," Juvia said from Gray's other side.

"I wanted to play, though," Lucy said, pouting. But she didn't want to interfere with the very intense tournament planning that was developing over by the console. If she joined, there would be an odd number of people. She was certain she could crush all of them if she got her hands on a controller, but somebody had to stand back and be the host. Since she was the one who organized this whole thing, that responsibility fell to her.

Wendy popped up next to them to call Gray over to the group. "Gray, you're participating," she said. "You're in the first group."

"What about you?" Gray said.

"I'm going to play with the cats," Wendy said. "Don't worry, I'll be watching the tournament. I like watching more than playing sometimes."

"Does Lucy want to help Juvia prepare dinner?" Juvia said, wrapping her arms around one of Lucy's.

"The chili is already in the crock pot, right?" Lucy said, looking at Gray.

"We still need toppings and bowls and such," Gray said, "and I don't think Natsu did the dishes. On second thought, maybe you should take my place in the tournament. It's not fair to make you do all this work in our home."

"I practically live here, so it's my home too," Lucy said. "It's fine, go play. And if you switch with me, Natsu will probably tease you about backing out."

"You're not wrong," Gray said, lips twitching upward in a smile. "Well, good luck, ladies."

"You can do it, Gray," Juvia said, beaming.

"All right," Lucy said, pulling her arm out of Juvia's so she could roll up her sleeves. "Let's get to work."

* * *

After an intense Mario Kart tournament, they all gorged themselves on the food Lucy and Juvia brought out. Of course, with a bunch of artists sitting around together, the topic eventually shifted to art. Yukino talked about the portraits she was working on for school that she was making Sting and Rogue model for.

"That's right, you're a painter like Lucy," Levy said. "Sting and Rogue, how about you? We didn't hear what you two concentrate in."

"Installation," Sting said with a mouth full of food.

Levy lit up. "So you do sculpture!"

"Correct," Rogue said. "I focus less on the physical form of an object and more on the shadow it casts, and create different shapes and interactions of how shadows from different light sources can interact. We're both sculpture majors, though, yes."

"I work with light too, but I like to use it for things that light up, and to create color spaces. Rogue likes to focus on the shadows, but I play with the light itself," Sting said.

"You two are similar yet opposites," Lucy observed. "That must be why you two are so close; your interests seem really compatible."

"Well, we've been friends since we were kids, so…" Rogue said, pink dusting his cheeks. "It's more that we've been together a lot so we influence each other's ways of thinking."

"Wow, and you went to the same school and everything. And the Sabertooth art program is so hard to get into! That's amazing," Levy said.

"It's because Sting wanted to go," Rogue said.

"Nah bro, it's 'cause you wanted to go," Sting argued.

"Does it really matter who wanted to go first?" Gajeel said, rolling his eyes.

Erza shot him a glare. "Don't be rude."

The two boys ignored this exchange, continuing to debate whose idea it was to go to the same art school in the first place. It was almost comical how they interrupted each other with such a natural flow of conversation. Rogue said they'd been together a lot, but even just listening to them talk, it was obvious they were attached at the hip.

Yukino stood behind her boys, placing a hand on each shoulder to quell their debate. "In case all of you couldn't tell by the way they're fighting over who loves each other more, these two are the bro-est bros to ever bro."

"That's not what we were arguing about," Sting protested.

"I don't understand your meaning," Erza said.

Yukino let out a long-suffering sigh and came around the front of the couch to take a seat on the floor. "With these two it's always, bro this, bro that. Bro, bro, bro. For Pete's sake, they even finish each other's sentences as if they're one of those mind-reading twin sets or something. As much as I hate the word, they are the literal definition of bromance."

"Hey, Sting's the one who says all the sappy shit," Rogue said.

Sting glared. "Don't pin it all on me, bro. You're the one who blushes out of nowhere and makes it weird."

Rogue blushed. "Then stop saying embarrassing shit and maybe I won't get embarrassed!"

"See what I have to put up with?" Yukino said.

"I feel your pain, Yukino," Lucy said. "Being the third wheel to two bickering boys is tough sometimes."

"We understand each other," Yukino said.

"You're not talking about me and Hotpants over there, are you?" Gray said, scowling.

"I'm not even close with that bastard," Natsu said.

"See?" Lucy said. "They're practically an old married couple."

"Like hell!" the boys chorused, then glared at each other.

"That's my line," Gray said as Natsu growled, "Don't copy me."

"Juvia thinks it's great everyone is so close," Juvia said, stars in her eyes. She was startled by a cat pouncing on her back in an attempt to escape from another cat. To Lucy's surprise, it wasn't the previously unintroduced cats fighting, but rather Happy chasing Charles, whom he had seen many times.

"Hey, Happy, cut that out," she said, reaching out to grab Happy as he followed Charles's path over Juvia and crossed in front of her.

Happy let out an irritated mewl of protest, but Lucy held him tight.

"Sorry," Wendy said, running after her cat. "Charles tried to nap, but Happy wanted to play, and then they started fighting. I'll go get her."

"Happy," Lucy scolded, shifting the cat in her arms so she could give him a glare. As usual, Happy avoided eye contact, instead pushing his paws against her chest in an attempt to get away from her firm hold on him.

With the center of focus brought back to the group, the other cats started coming over as well. Lector and Frosch wrestled playfully on the floor while Lily watched over them, calmly cleaning himself.

Honestly, between the cats and their humans, Lucy wasn't sure which set was the weirder bunch of personalities.

"Ah, but we should get going," Yukino said suddenly, staring at the clock on the wall. "I still have to work on my portraiture project for tomorrow."

Sting looked at Rogue in wide-eyed horror. "Shit, the art history essay."

"Shit."

"You've gotta help me out, bro."

"I haven't even started my own essay, bro. How do you expect me to help you on yours?"

"I dunno bro."

"See what I mean with the 'bro?'" Yukino said.

"Yeah," came a chorus of muttered replies, the Fairy Tail group somewhat awed by how often the Sabertooth boys called each other "bro" now that they knew to listen for it.

"Whatever," Sting said, picking up Lector and putting the protesting cat back in his carrier. "You coming, Yuki?"

"Yeah, yeah." Yukino stood up. "It was nice meeting everyone."

"You too," Levy said.

"Lucy talks about you a lot, so I think all of us have been waiting for the day we finally got introduced," Erza said.

Yukino giggled. "I could say the same thing to you."

"Oh yeah?" Natsu said. "What does Lucy say about us?"

"That," Yukino said with a wink, "will have to be a topic for next time."

"I'll look forward to it," Erza said, smiling.

"Don't make me regret introducing everyone," Lucy said.

"Don't worry, we will," Yukino said, winking again. "Bye, Fairy Tail! Until next time!"

They waved the Sabertooth bunch goodbye. When the front door of the apartment was closed again, Lucy turned to her friends.

"So," she said, "how about another round of Mario Kart? A few of you need to get your butts kicked by a professional."

"I call Toadette!" Wendy shouted, running to the controllers.

The "cat playdate" was over, sure, but with this rowdy bunch, the play never ended.


End file.
